Unity
by LaValentina
Summary: Guy always knew there was strength in numbers.


Unity

When Guy returns to Locksley manor, it is late. Very late. He is tired, bone weary and half frozen. The ride there from the castle is in truth not a very long one. He has had longer journeys under worse conditions he knows, but tonight the chill has sunk into his bones. All he can think of is getting back home. He wills himself forward, spurning his horse on, muttering that it won't be much longer. He doesn't know if it appreciates his efforts, but then again it is as much for him as for it. A gust of wind blows through him and he shivers before urging his horse on. As he approaches he can see the outline of it. He wonders if Marian managed to stay awake. Normally she can, but since she became pregnant her body tends to get the best of her.

A peculiar feeling fills him when he thinks of his wife. It is half warmth, half trepidation. Three years into the marriage he is still waiting for the worst. He will never tell her this; that even falling asleep with her in his arms, the sweat cooling on their bodies and their scent in the air; he cannot stamp the tiny cold seed of doubt from his heart. Their marriage was an interesting one. Sometimes she obeyed him other she didn't, sometimes she was attentive, and others she was aloof. One thing was consistent. Their bed was a haven. Any arguments, ill feelings, anger was left out of it. It was where the walls were down and they reached for each other, two people with little to nothing outside of the other.

He swings down from his saddle and leads his horse to the stables. He sees the stable boy dead asleep, wrapped in a think blanket, no doubt woven by his wife. If he had the energy, he'd kick him awake and bark for him to take care of his horse. Tonight that is beyond him, so he does it himself and leaves the boy to sleep. Afterwards he heads inside. The house is not much warmer than out side, and as he trudges up the stairs, he has to brace himself against the wall with one hand. Their room is warmer. The fire is roaring in the hearth, valiantly trying to ward off the inevitable cold. There is a skin over the window, but a draft is leaking in. he glances at the bed and presumes that the lump beneath the blankets and pelts is indeed his wife. He strips out of his leathers but leaves on the woolen undershirt and pulls on a pair of woolen trousers.

He slides beneath the blankets and furs and finds her warm and soft from sleep. His hand slides over his waist and immediately she turns into him and snuggles down, her face buried in his chest.

"Have you only just arrived?" she whispers groggily.

"Yes," His arm slides all the way around her, pulling her even closer as he relaxes into the straw mattress. The cold is ebbing, and when he feels her little hand under his shirt, warm against the skin of his back he smiles. He can feel her rounded belly against his hard flat one and knows that soon they won't be able to sleep like this. He'll be forced to sleep behind her. Long moments pass as he lays there, one hand smoothing up and down her back, the other toying with the silky strands of her hair.

"Does Vaszey know?" she asks.

He sighs and pulls her tighter. "Yes."

"He kept you late tonight. Is he going to make things difficult for you?"

"It doesn't matter." He replies and it is true. There is nothing that that man can inflict that could outweigh what he now holds in his arms.

"It does matter," she says now fully awake. Her head comes up and when he looks down he is faces with two irate and frustrated blue grey eyes; his little avenger. The soothing hand at the small of his back is now poking him in the chest. He kisses her furrowed brow and smiles slightly taking the offending hand back and holding it in his. "I don't understand how you put up with it. He inflicts too much upon you, wrongs past bearing-"

"No Marian," he interrupts gently. "Not past bearing. Not if I have you, and we have this."

"You do have me." Her eyes are soft and fond, even if some frustration lingers. He brushes his mouth against her fingers and then tucks her hand against his

chest, caressing her slight fingers with his own. "Then let me sleep."

She presses a soft kiss against his neck, and then his chest before she sighs and burrows down against him, compliant for the moment.

He waits for her breathing to even out before he allows himself to fall asleep. _Not past bearing… _


End file.
